


Make The Yuletide Gay

by bellabee



Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: Aged-Up Losers Club (IT), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Typical Swearing, Christmas, Hanukkah, Holiday Fic Exchange, Light Angst, M/M, Make Up, Mild Language, Secret Santa, college aged, fight, holiday party, most of the losers are just background characters in this, richie has to be cuupid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:06:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21883471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellabee/pseuds/bellabee
Summary: With holiday break comes the stress of being back around family, something which gets to Eddie greatly. Unfortunately for him, his unresolved anger comes out in less than healthy ways, possibly affecting his relationships with someone he truly cares for. Lucky for him, Stan can be pretty understanding.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Stanley Uris
Kudos: 18
Collections: IT Fandom Secret Santa 2019





	Make The Yuletide Gay

**Author's Note:**

> Happy holidays to my secret santa giftee, stxn-the-mxn on tumblr! I hope you enjoy <3
> 
> See end notes for link to gift inspiration
> 
> Check me out on tumblr @maxine-gayfield

Eddie made his way down into the clubhouse, the ceilings seeming much lower than they had when they were just kids. He walked over to the small container sitting on a shelf, pulling off the top to grab one of the showercaps. He pulled it over his head, making sure that it covered all of his hair. He was the only one there at the moment, so he decided to take advantage of that and climb into the hammock.

He started gently rocking it back and forth, staring up at nothing. He had come for some peace and quiet, wanting to get away from his mother’s nagging and her annoying game shows. He had told her he was going to the library, but in reality he had wandered off into the woods until he came across the familiar entrance to the clubhouse. He didn’t think any of the other losers had plans to go there today, so he took the chance to be alone for once. Before he knew it the silence mixed with gentle rocking lulled him to sleep, his eyes fluttering shut as he drifted off. 

He was awoken by the sound of loud voices, more specifically Richie’s. He made a disgruntled noise as he reached up to rub his eyes. He opened them slowly, glaring at Richie’s face once it came into view.

”Don’t you ever shut that trashmouth,” he grumbled as he sat up, throwing a comic book in his direction.

Richie responded to his words with a bright grin, shooting a playful wink his way. “You know I don’t, Eduardo,” he said, attempting and failing to roll the ‘r’.

Eddie rolled his eyes, stretching his arms over his head until he felt his back pop. He relaxed back against the hammock, just then realize than Stan was standing behind Richie with his usual unimpressed look.

”Are you done,” he drawled in a seemingly annoyed voice.

Richie laughed obnoxiously at his best friends comment, elbowing his side lightly. He picked up the comic that Eddie had thrown at him and sauntered over to the bean bag chair near the hammock, plopping down onto it. It had been brought down courtesy of Bev, who no longer wanted it in her bedroom.

”Oh come on, Staniel. You know just how much you love our bickering,” he said, puckering his lips in Eddie’s direction.

Eddie and Stan scoffed simultaneously, sharing a look with one another. They were more than used to Richie’s antics by now, but that didn’t make him any less challenging to deal with. Neither of them dignified him with a response, instead deciding to strike up conversation with one another while Richie flipped through the well read comic.

”What are you doing down here,” Stan started with as he walked over to the hammock, gently sitting down by Eddie’s feet so as to not tip either of them over.

”Getting away from my mother,” Eddie replied as he pulled his feet closer to his body. “She’s been even worse than usual since I got back for Christmas break.”

Stan let out a short, unsurprised laugh. They all knew how Mrs. Kaspbrak could be, especially since Eddie had left Derry for college. Eddie seemed to have something about her to complain about every time they hung out lately.

”That sounds about right.”

”What’s that supposed to mean?” Eddie asked somewhat defensively.

Stan raised a sculpted eyebrow at Eddie’s reaction to his words, having not expected it. Eddie usually always agreed with his mother being a lot, so he wasn’t sure why he seemed to be all up in arms about it all of a sudden.

”It _means _that every time we see each other there’s something she did wrong to complain about. This isn’t anything new, Eddie.”__

__  
_ _

Eddie huffed, not wanting to admit that Stan was right.

”Whatever,” he said shortly, lapsing into silence again after that.

Stan shook his head in exasperation but let it drop, not wanting to start an argument. He pulled a book out of his bag, flipping open to the last page he had read and picking up from there.

It didn’t take Eddie long to get bored after that, as he was feeling extra energetic and hyperactive after his nap. He reached out, poking Stan with his foot before quickly retracting it and looking away innocently.

Stan shot him a look but didn’t say anything yet, telling himself it was just an accident. He looked back down at his book, an irritated look taking over his face as he felt Eddie touch him again. He tried to ignore it, hoping that he would stop if he didn’t get a reaction, but Eddie just kept poking him.

”Knock it off,” he finally snapped, pushing Eddie’s foot away from him.

A mischievous grin had taken over Eddie’s face as he looked over at his taller friend.

”Stop what? I’m just stretching my legs out, Stan. After all, I _was _sitting here first, and now I don’t have any room to stretch them out so they’re getting all cramped up. If you think about it, it’s actually your own fault that you keep getting hit. Maybe if you didn’t sit here or you moved you wouldn’t have to worry about it,” he responded, talking a mile a minute.__

__  
_ _

Stan snapped his book shut, shoving it back into his bag and standing up. He brushed his pants off, despite the fact that there wasn’t anything on them, and started to make his way towards the exit of the clubhouse.

”Fine, have the hammock all to yourself.”

Eddie rolled his eyes as Stan started to walk off, but he didn’t get up to try and stop him.He stretched his legs out, looking at the retreating boy before letting out a dramatic sigh.

”C’mon Stan, stop being such a baby. I was just fucking around, calm down. It’s not my fault you can’t handle anybody touching you and possibly wrinkling your clothes,” he shot back.

Stan stopped in his tracks, turning around to fix Eddie with a scathing look.

”Stop being a _baby _? Why don’t you stop being an asshole?”__

__  
_ _

The escalation of voices had caught Richie’s attention, clueing him into the fact that this was getting dangerously close to out of playful banter territory. While he was always one to encourage bickering, he tried to stop actual fights from happening between the losers.

”Woah, woah, let’s calm down boys. You’re both pretty and there’s more than enough of me to go around,” he joked, attempting to diffuse the tension.

”Stay out of this Richie,” Eddie snapped before turning his attention back to Stan. “So I’m an asshole now, huh? Why, because you can’t handle everyone not catering to your every whim?

”What are you even talking about? All I did was ask you to stop kicking my side and you had to go and be a dick about it.”

”You’re the one who made a comment about me complaining about my mom! You started all of this,” Eddie shot back, always one to get quickly riled up.

”That’s because you do always complain about her,” Stan replied, his voice starting lose his usual composure. “I couldn’t tell you the last time we hung out without you having something wrong with her that you wanted to talk about. We get it Eddie, your mom sucks. You don’t need to remind us every chance you get,” he continued, voice full of venom.

”Well I’m sorry that not everybody’s family is as great as yours,” he said, rolling his eyes for effect. “Some of us don’t get to come home to a family who loves us.”

Stan let out another scoff, his eyes narrowing over at Eddie. “Oh, that’s rich. It’s not my fault that your mom is like that. Just because you hate her doesn’t mean you get to take that out on me. I get that you can’t stand to be around her for more than 5 minutes but that doesn’t give you an excuse to be an asshole to everyone else.”

Richie stood up at that, standing between them despite the distance already there.

“Okay, that’s enough,” he cut in before Eddie could respond. “Both of you shut the fuck up.”His voice was uncharacteristically firm and serious, catching the other two off guard. Richie almost never got serious, instead opting for a joking approach. Usually someone else would be the one to stop any fighting though, so in this case it was up to him. He was always down to encourage some bickering, but this argument was getting way too serious for his liking.

”Let’s knock this shit off before you say anything you regret. It’s Christmas time,” he paused to glance over at Stan, “Or Hanukkah, whatever. It’s the holidays, don’t go making it uncomfortable for everybody else because you two have too much unresolved sexual tension that you don’t know how to deal with.”

Stan and Eddie both fell silent as Richie started to talk, both stewing in their own anger. It was a bit of a slap in the face to have Richie of all people call them out, but it was enough for them to stop for the time being. However, their silence dissipated as they caught onto the end of Richie’s rant.

”W-what are you on about? There’s no sexual tension, fuck off Richie,” Eddie said quickly, refusing to look at Stan as his cheeks bloomed a blotchy pink.

”Not everything is sexual Richie,” Stan added on, shooting him a glare. “Whatever, I’m leaving. You can keep complaining to Richie, leave me out of it,” he finished at Eddie.

He didn’t wait for a response before exiting the clubhouse, practically stomping as he walked off.

”...Yikes,” Richie said after a beat of silence, causing Eddie to turn his angry stare onto him instead.

He held his hands up in defense, letting Eddie get up and stomp off as well with the shower cap still on his head. He took over Eddie’s spot on the hammock, shaking his head as he reopened the comic.

”No sexual tension my ass,” he mumbled.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------

Eddie stood pacing his room days later, biting his nails despite the anti biting polish his mom forced him to apply. He had to leave soon for the annual losers holiday party/sleepover, and he had still yet to speak to Stan since their big fight. He had been tempted to text or call him multiple times, but each time he chickened out.

He knew that he needed to apologize for the way he had acted in the clubhouse, but he was too anxious to make the first move. However, that only led to him being forced to see him at the party without making things awkward. No matter what Richie said though, it definitely was _not _awkward because of sexual tension. That was just ridiculous.__

__  
_ _

It wasn’t his fault that Stan had to be so nitpicky over everything. While he knew that he didn’t do it on purpose, he was still allowed to be annoyed by Stan getting so uptight about everything. Then again, he couldn’t really say much about being uptight when it was practically his own middle name.

Still though, he shouldn’t be the asshole just because Stan couldn’t handle a little touching. Even if he seemed perfectly fine sitting so close to Eddie in the first place. Maybe if he would just calm down then the fight wouldn’t have even happened.

Even in his own head, Eddie knew that he was being too harsh. He just wanted an excuse to get the blame off of himself, but it wasn’t working out too great for him. He felt bad for pushing Stan’s boundaries, especially considering how nice of an afternoon it would have been otherwise.

He was drawn out of his thoughts when he heard his phone ding, looking down to see a text from Richie informing him that he was outside. He tried to school his emotions as he picked up his bag, not wanting Richie to think that anything was up.

He said a quick goodbye to his mom, ducking out of the door before she could smother him with any ‘overnight meds’ or lectures about the cleanliness of other people’s homes. He saw Richie’s familiar beat up red pickup truck parked in front of his house so he walked towards it, opening the passenger side door before hopping in.

”Spaghetti man! Bloody good pleasure to see ya mate,” Richie exclaimed in his usual British accent.

Eddie rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t help the smile that pulled at his lips. He put his bag by his feet before buckling up, warming his hands by the heater as he Richie started to drive again.

”Hi, Richie,” he said, not bothering to hide the exasperation in his tone. “I literally saw you yesterday, why are you like this?”

”Oh, you know you love me. I’m your bestest friend there ever was.”

Eddie scoffed, though he made no effort to deny it. Richie knew how much he secretly valued their friendship, even if he would never admit it.”

”So,” Richie started as they reached a stop sign, “what’s up with you and Stan?”

Eddie visibly bristled, refusing to look at Richie. “No idea what you’re talking about.

”Oh, don’t give me that. Have you two talked at all since.. Y’know?”

Eddie sighed, shaking his head. “No, we haven’t. It’s fine though, whatever.”

Richie shrugged, starting to drive again. “If you say so. Just don’t make things weird again, just fuck it out this time.”

Eddie made an indignant noise, punching Richie in the thigh harder than what was probably necessary.

”Hey!” Richie exclaimed, swerving slightly. “Driving here!”

Eddie gave a half hearted apology, crossing his arms across his chest for the rest of the ride. It didn’t take long for them to get there, Bev’s familiar apartment building coming into view. Eddie hopped out of the car, picking up his bag and walking up to the apartment before Richie could try and continue any conversation.

Eddie knocked on the door, giving Bev a smile when she opened it up. He walked in, dropping his bag by the door. All of the other losers were already there, so once Richie walked in they started the party properly.

Everyone was quickly swept up in a whirlwind of chatter and drinks, no one conversation seeming to last very long at all. Despite the fact that they had kept in touch while at school and had been home for holiday break for days now, it still seemed like they had a ton of catching up to do.

Somehow, Eddie managed to avoid talking to Stan. Any time they ended up with their conversations intertwining, one or both of them would find a reason to slip away so they wouldn’t have to face the other.

Eddie, lucky as ever, had managed to pick Stan’s name when they had picked from a hat during Thanksgiving break. This hadn’t been a problem at the time, as he would have been happy to get any of his friends. The only issue then was that Stan was a hard person to pick out gifts for, as no matter what he seemed like he would judge you for it.

Eddie had thought long and hard about what to get him, and after an extensive period of time scrolling through the internet, he had finally stumbled across it. There was somebody making personalized dreidels, engraved with whatever the buyer chose. He knew as soon as he saw it that it would be perfect, even more so after he saw that it was at a decent price.

Despite how confident he had been when he first bought the gift, it now felt like every nerve in his body was alight with anxiety. Even if the gift was good, a part of him expected Stan to hate it simply because of what had gone down between the two of them just days before.

When it came time for Eddie to give his gift, he took a deep breath before leaning over to hand it to Stan. He set the small box down in front of him before returning to his seat, worrying his lower lip between his teeth.

”Happy Chanukah, Stan,” he mumbled, giving him a small, surrendering smile.

Stan looked down at the box in his lap, taking a moment before meticulously opening it. He set the still in tact wrapping paper off to the side, turning the small cardboard cube between his hands. He eventually opened it after Richie so kindly told him to ‘hurry the fuck up already’, revealing the small dreidel within.

His lips parted in genuine surprise as he took it out with gentle fingers, inspecting the engraved woodworking. He read the simple “Losers Club 2019,” admiring the Star of David engraved with it. He ran his fingers over it multiple times, seemingly transfixed by the wooden game piece.

”I uh- I don’t know if it’s like an actually functional dreidel. You know that I still can’t play it anyways, no matter how many times you try and teach me. It’s more of a novelty than anything, I just thought it’d be nice to not get something so Christmasy,” Eddie rambled after Stan’s silence started to go on for a beat too long.

”It’s amazing, Eddie,” Stan cut in before the other boy could talk himself into a conniption. “Thank you, this means a lot,” he added genuinely.

Eddie could feel the tension draining out of him as Stan seemed to be sincere in his words, his own smile turning more genuine as he watched him admire the gift.

”I’m glad you like it.”

The exchanging of gifts didn’t go on for much longer, as it wasn’t that long of a process to open 7 presents. Everybody seemed happy with what they had received, but none so much as Stan. He kept opening the box to look at the dreidel, his eyes full of admiration.

Once they all ungrouped to start smaller conversations again, Eddie finally made his way over to Stan. He sat down on the couch next to him, almost close enough for their thighs to be touching.

”Do you really like it?”

Stan properly looked at him for one of the first times that night, a genuine and unabashed smile on his face. It wasn’t often that the losers got to see him with that look sober, as he almost always kept his expression neutral. He was having a great night though, good enough for him to let loose.

”Yeah, I really do. It’s perfect, Eddie. I mean it.”

Eddie smiled widely back at him, gently bumping their shoulders together.

”I’m glad. And I’m sorry, too. For everything from the other day.

”You don’t have to-”

”I do,” Eddie cut him off. “You were right, I was just taking my anger at my mom out on you and it wasn’t fair. And I’m sorry about that.

”I forgive you,” Stan said sincerely. “I’m sorry too, by the way. I didn’t have to be such a dick either.

Eddie was about to respond again before he heard Bev let out an ‘Ohhh,’ as she pointed at him and Stan, causing the both of them to give her looks of confusion. They looked up when she nodded upwards, seeing Richie holding a piece of mistletoe above their heads.

”Now that you two lovebirds have finally made up, I think it’s time for the grand finale.

”Oh fuck off, Rich. Get out of here with that, I’m probably allergic.

”Nope, you know the rules Eddie,” Mike chimed in. “You get under mistletoe with somebody and you gotta kiss them.

”But that’s so not fair! I didn’t ‘get under’ it with anybody, Richie put it over us! There should be an exception this ti- _mmph _”__

__  
_ _

He was cut off by the sudden soft pressure of Stan’s lips against his own, causing his brain to short circuit. He sat there with his mouth hanging open dumbly as Stan pulled away, satisfied smirk on his face.

”What? You know the rules,” he repeated innocently, taking a sip of his drink to try and mask his growing smile.

Eddie finally shook himself out of his stupor as Stan spoke, an affronted look taking over his face.

”You ass!” he started, making Stan worried for a moment that he had read it all wrong. “You didn’t even give me a chance to kiss back!”

This pulled a startled laugh out of Stan as he shook his head, ignoring the hollering from his other friends. “Well, guess you’ll have to try and do better next time,” he said suggestively.

Eddie gaped like a fish again, but it didn’t take long for him to fall back into talking quickly in his usual fashion. Everyone fell back into their usual rhythms, acting as if it wasn’t out of the ordinary for two of the group to suddenly kiss unexpectedly.

Eddie laid on his side staring out at the starry sky as the night came to a close, all of the losers already either asleep or on their way to it. He reflected on the day he had just had, still not completely convinced it wasn’t just a drunken hallucination. However, Stan’s sleeping form sharing the pullout couch was a pretty good reminder that it had all happened.

While he wasn’t sure what would happen in the future, or even in the next day, Eddie was able to fall asleep with a clear mind for the first time in what felt like ever. He was more relaxed than he had been in a long time, and he fell asleep with a smile slowly dissipating.

**Author's Note:**

> I got the idea for the custom dreidel, and I found this on etsy which looked like how I was imagining it!  
> https://www.etsy.com/listing/564017912/custom-engraved-chanukkah-dreidel-with?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_hanukkah_Art_and_Collectibles&utm_custom1=_kenshoo_clickid_&utm_content=go_1707961866_69268686169_331635230598_pla-314954651933_m__564017912&gclid=CjwKCAiA__HvBRACEiwAbViuUzTt9XuT_qlHkC4EiYDSfzAzK7BhY3Ba4FuenLAFNeN77wMfcKIatxoC4SAQAvD_BwE&fbclid=IwAR10gLjcCpyEf6Ea02qFPrNhfmrGiIQCBCMW3C0Tc83yH4kwFq_qYdFiy6Y


End file.
